


I don't dance

by orphan_account



Series: Interpersonal [3]
Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: Arguing, Boys In Love, Coming Out, Dancing, F/M, Implied Sexual Content, Kissing, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-04-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:27:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23793097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: "Can you stop staring holes through my boyfriend," Ricky says out loud, eyes trained on the TV screen. Whatever they're watching on Netflix is dubbed in English, and Ricky is too engrossed in the action and plot for Big Red to pull him from it, "you're frightening him into celibacy."Ashlyn snorts.Big Red doesn't find it as funny."You're supposed to be myfriend. You hated EJ. I hated EJ because you hated EJ. Now you like EJ? Did he suck your common sense out through your dick too?"
Relationships: Big Red/Ashlyn Caswell, Ricky Bowen/E.J. Caswell
Series: Interpersonal [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1603699
Comments: 11
Kudos: 129





	I don't dance

**Author's Note:**

> Idk if I like this 👉👈 but I wanted to write another installment of this so idk.
> 
> An alternative title is 'Big Red the Cockblock 2: Electric Boogaloo'

Ashlyn keeps her promise and doesn't say a single word, but Big Red finds out the way he always seems to find things out. 

Because he's nosy, because he's Ricky's best friend, and simply because he's Big Red. 

Or because he opened the wrong door. Either way. Best friend intuition.

\---

_"Pull up in the monster automobile gangster, with a bad bitch that came from Sri Lanka, yeah I'm in that Tonka, color of Willy Wonka, you could be the King but watch the Queen conquer"_

The cackle that spills through the air is as sharp and quick, akin to pure electricity; falling from Ricky’s mouth as EJ’s spitting out the rap to the Nicki Minaj song, almost like the lyrics have always been tattooed along the side of his brain. He's moving around the room, a stupid grin on his face as he twirls sloppily around Ricky; urging the junior to partake in the distorted excuse of a dance that he's performing in the privacy of his bedroom.

EJ's bed sheets are wrinkled and the pillows are scrunched into a ball between the mattress and the headboard, all from where they'd spent that morning nipping and sucking and pressing skin to skin; both boys having left the tangle with their hair mussed and their skin flush with mottled bruises and red lovebites. 

Ricky though? Well he still manages to look all things soft and gentle as he stands in jeans and a cream sweater, the sleeves pulled down over his hands. Meanwhile the senior's plaid shirt hangs open, the bottom two buttons still fastened but doing very little to hide the curve of his torso. His skin is bruised and almost ruined, following a trail of spots to his navel- while Ricky's all reside on his neck or the bone of his collar.

"You didn't peg me as a barb-" Ricky laughs as EJ straightens himself up and begins wiggling his upper body, arms outstretched like he's asking for a hug, "-I am _not_ dancing with you. I don't dance."

" _Cause that's what-_ I'm sorry? You don't dance? What was that on the night of the musical then?"

Ricky shakes his head. Refuses to speak. 

He wouldn’t know how to reply anyway. What could he say, that he was forced to dance? It was fun, don’t get him wrong. It was arguably one of the greatest nights of his life if he’s being entirely honest. Dancing though? It’s just never really been his thing. 

Almost as if it was a reflex, EJ begins to pout.

"Oh come on- _I know ya can-_ "

"Jay, no-"

" _If I could do this, well, you could do that-_ "

Elijah's eyebrows rise, awaiting the continuation of the ‘High School Musical 2’ banger. None of the lyrics match up to the tune of 'Monster' blasting through his Bluetooth speakers, but it’s extremely clear that he doesn’t really mind. 

It takes a single look for Ricky to crack. A single twitch of the brow, a shimmy of the shoulders. His mouth contorts into an almost-smile as he purposefully represses his amusement. 

He relents.

" _But I don't dance._ "

It’s worth it. 

It’s truly worth it to watch EJ's eyes light up and his smile grow wider. How the swivel of his hips gets that little bit more energetic, and how absolutely in awe he is of Ricky of all people.

Just under three months ago, neither of them would’ve ever thought they’d be here - together. 

"Yes Ricky!” he cheers, the carbon-copy of a child on christmas, “come on babe- _hit it out of the park!_ "

Taking EJ's hands, the junior lets his boyfriend spin him round the room; and they twirl together in a mass of limbs and heaving chests from the act of giggling.

" _I don't dance!_ ," and Ricky's voice comes out in an upbeat staccato as his words are split by laughter. EJ's grinning at him, cheeks flushed and eyes crinkled; and both boys are leaning against each other as EJ pulls Ricky in, the junior finding his head fitting perfectly in the skin of EJ's neck - and EJ with his face full of brunet curls.

" _I say you can_."

It's muttered quieter now. Gentle against Ricky's forehead. Soft. Encouraging. Only for them.

" _There's not a chance, oh~_ "

The senior smirks at the hum against his skin, and Ricky drags it out as he brushes the tip of his nose along his boyfriend’s jaw. 

" _Slide home, you score…_ swingin on the dance floor..." 

EJ reaches for one of Ricky's hands and laces their fingers, and at that moment he’s able to feel his pulse thumping in his ears.

"I don't dance, no…"

Ricky pulls back, tilts his head the few millimetres it takes to see eye to eye with his boyfriend. 

"Are you sure? You're really good at it," the taller of the pair asks, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Am I?"

Ricky beams. 

"Yeah."

"Yeah?"

"Uh huh. Best dancer I know."

"That's a bold faced lie. Gina does exist and she’d find that very offensi-"

Ricky's retort is cut off by an abrupt kiss.

Big Red - who has been standing quite noticeably in the door frame since EJ started rapping - decides to make himself known. Why? He’s not sure. Maybe it’s because he’s a dumbass, and his body usually moves first while his brain tries to catch up. Or maybe, just maybe, it’s because his best friend is dancing with his own sworn enemy; both of them bruised, both of them smiling. 

Big Red doesn’t care that Ricky's dating a guy.

He cares that it’s _EJ._

He clears his throat. 

And when they don’t seem to hear him, he does it again. 

“Yo _Richard_!”

Red isn’t sure what reaction he expected, but it’s certainly interesting.

Ricky's eyes widen, and he surges forward to dig his face into the skin of EJ's neck as his eyes tightly shut. All EJ can hear is the repeated mantra of 'shit shit shit' in his left ear.

"Hey Red," the senior tries, and grits his teeth when Ricky bites him. _Hard_. 

"I don't know what's worse. You two in a relationship or the fact EJ's a barb-"

Ricky leans back, taking a great deal of offence for his boyfriend who’s been silenced by the bite mark on the side of his neck. Red swells around the shallow indents of the juniors teeth. With an edge to his voice and exasperation flooding his tone, he yells:

"So are fucking you-!"

\---

In their defence- nobody was supposed to be there. Ashlyn had been working on a new crown for her renaissance fair costume the last time she was over at her cousins house, and while she was looking for it- her boyfriend needed to use the bathroom. The front door was locked. Ashlyn and Red thought nobody was home. Red pushed his way through the wrong door, and the rest is history.

Which catches everyone up to the current (and very awkward) situation. 

Both couples find themselves on separate ends of EJ's couch, half an hour after the interaction. The pair have since fixed all of their clothes, and ran a comb through their hair - but little spots peek out from the lip of Ricky’s collar, and they’re beginning to turn a deep and ugly purple. Ricky and EJ take up the left, Ricky's feet curled up beneath him and his body turned in toward the heat of his boyfriend. Elijah is practically a plank of wood beside him though, refusing to let their bodies touch in fear of the ginger kid across the room going absolutely feral. 

"Can you stop staring holes through my boyfriend," Ricky says out loud, eyes trained on the TV screen. Whatever they're watching on Netflix is dubbed in English, and Ricky is too engrossed in the action and plot for Big Red to pull him from it, "you're frightening him into celibacy."

Ashlyn snorts.

Big Red doesn't find it as funny.

"You're supposed to be my _friend_. You hated EJ. I hated EJ because you hated EJ. Now you like EJ? Did he suck your common sense out through your dick too?"

The senior turns a very interesting shade of beetroot.

"I haven't actually-"

Elijah James Caswell is shut up by a glare so fierce, that if looks could kill then Red would be charged for manslaughter.

"Can you like- shut up? For a second," the redhead bites, "I'm still trying to figure out how _this_ happened."

Ricky sighs, and with bated breath decides to tell his best friend the truth.

"The tech rehearsal. When you walked in on EJ and I, and you’d found me on the floor. We were about to kiss, and you came in so he shoved me-"

This piques Ashlyn’s interest. For a moment EJ had forgotten how he’d never told her the story of his and Ricky's first kiss. 

EJ cuts in, not letting his boyfriend die a martyr for something that he too had a hand in.

"-and I kissed him as soon as you left. _I_ kissed _him_ , okay? So don't be mad at Ricky-"

"I'm not," Big Red sounds absolutely wrecked. The fight has drained from his bones, leaving him completely and utterly blank, "I'm not mad. I’m...I’m confused.”

Ashlyn shrugs and decides to answer for the boys that are too scared to do it themselves. 

“They’re happy. They’ve been happy for a while,” she starts, “and EJ hasn’t shut up about him since-”

Ricky flushes.

Some part of him lights up.

"I'm sorry, what? You knew? And you didn't tell me? You're my girlfriend!"

The light dies.

Ashlyn doesn't stand for his hostility. 

Ashlyn's never been one to back down from something, unless she believes that she'll never have a chance in hell at winning. She reasons with him first, because that's the kind of girl she is. She's strong, she's fierce… but above all, her words are always her weapon of choice.

"Yeah- and EJ's my cousin. It wasn't my secret to tell you, bubba. If they love each other, if they treat each other right, there's no harm in it."

The red haired boy sighs.

His girlfriend though- is still on edge. Can feel the tensity in the room. Can see out of the corner of her eye how EJ is pressing himself to the arm of the chair as if ready to make an escape.

“Is there?” she asks.

It’s a loaded question. 

It’s loaded with anger and frustration, and all of the fire that burns in Ashlyn’s wonderful body. She looks like she’s about to snap, the tension winding and winding as her eyes turn to daggers; and her fists clench like rubber bands pulled taught.

It's frightening.

“Of course there’s nothing wrong with it!” Big Red defends, as if her even suggesting the thought was ludicrous.

Ashlyn breathes.

Big Red bites at his lip.

"I just- EJ though?"

Ricky gulps. Nods.

Even Ashlyn has to give that one to her boyfriend. EJ hasn't exactly been 'boyfriend of the year' to anyone in the past few months. 

"Yeah."

Ricky answers. It's quiet, and he's staring at the carpet.

"And do you two… you know... _really_ love each other?"

A pregnant pause hangs in the air, and EJ raises his eyes to watch his boyfriend gape like a fish, mouth opening and closing in an attempt to find a way to bring his thoughts forward.

"I- I think so, yeah? Yeah. Yeah I do."

EJ looks back and forth between the two best friends, and carefully moves his hand to rest on Ricky's knee.

"Same here," he breathes, "Just- trust us on this. Please?"

"Give them a chance, Red."

Red nods and looks over at the pair.

"Okay. Okay. Fine. I don't know if I'm happy about it yet, it's still absolutely insane- but hey, at least I don't have to listen to Ricky daydream about punching your face in anymore."

EJ relaxes, ignores the statement tacked on at the end purely because he’s so relieved, and pulls Ricky close to press a kiss into the curls of his hair.

"There's still sometimes I wanna deck him-" Ricky starts

"-oh I could definitely take you-"

"You hurt him, I'll kill you."

It's Ashlyn who says it. 

"I won't," Ricky shakes his head, smiling at her. He knows she means well, and even though he's a little terrified, he doesn't want to admit it.

"Oh I'm not talking to you."

And EJ scowls.


End file.
